Online Reporter
Peter Matika [email protected]
RENOWNED industrialist and Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) chairman Busisa Moyo has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Business Leadership at the 31st Nust graduation ceremony in Bulawayo.
The accolade marks a huge recognition of his towering contribution to business, industry and the economy both locally and across the region.
Speaking after the conferment, Moyo, who is also chief executive officer of United Refineries Limited (URL), said the award was both humbling and inspiring. “It’s a mile marker, I didn’t expect it. But they took notice of what we do and what we have done and we can still do more,” he said.
Nust Vice Chancellor Professor Mqhele Dlodlo described URL as an iconic African company woven into the fabric of Zimbabwean life. “From humble beginnings in Rusape, URL grew from Rusape Oil Limited into a powerhouse. Its story is about our people, our passion, our achievements, our challenges, our resolve to never give up and the lives we touch,” said Prof Dlodlo.
Over the past eight decades, URL has given Zimbabwe household names such as Roil, Image, Impala, Star Bar and Honeygold, brands that have stirred nostalgia with their unforgettable adverts and become part of everyday living.
Today, URL stands as one of Zimbabwe’s big four cooking oil refineries, boasting a USD6 million production plant and a refining capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes of soya oil annually. It also produces soaps, stockfeeds and vital by-products such as soya meal and hulls that drive the poultry, piggery and cattle industries.
The company employs more than 260 full-time staff members, with additional seasonal staff joining as needed to meet demand.
For Moyo, who has already been inducted into the Zimbabwe Business Hall of Fame, this latest accolade is another feather in the cap of a man who continues to shape industry while carrying the hopes of local manufacturing on his shoulders.
